A Hovel
by OfCourseIAm
Summary: Kenji sees Shizuku's apartment for the first time. Needless to say, he is less than impressed. Spoilers for ch30.


**A/N:** Well, here's another Yamaken/Shizuku fanfic that I wrote a while back, also part of the A Girl Who's Too Domestic series that starts with 101 Sex Positions. Reading the other works in the series is not necessary to read this fic. All you need to know is that they have been in a relationship for around 2-3 months at this point.

Please review!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own My Little Monster/Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

* * *

"Shizuku…"

Shizuku made a humming noise as she stuck her key into the lock.

"This is a joke, right?"

She spun around, her hands seeming to fall naturally to her hips. "No, Kenji, it is not a joke. I live here. We can leave in a few minutes."

Kenji ducked his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking dubiously down the walkway. Shizuku lived in a small three story apartment complex, he'd known that. What he hadn't known was that her door opened to the outside, and it was a run down piece of shit.

A water pipe bobbed off of the side of the building, seeming to question whether it wanted to fall or not. The wooden boards they stood upon to enter the apartments on the second floor were uneven, and some looked as if they were rotting. The outside walls were so filthy Kenji had needed to make sure he didn't catch any of his clothing on it, lest it stain. The lock on Shizuku's door was better quality than the rest of the place, but he still would've felt better if it cost a hundred thousand yen more. Though the door looked like it could be kicked in fairly easily, so it probably didn't matter. Not to mention the windows didn't look like they were meant to withstand forceful blows.

Shizuku slid her door open. Kenji followed her inside, after quickly peering up at the ceiling to be sure it wouldn't cave in on him. It was made of the same low grade materials as the rest of the place, but it didn't look too dangerous. But then, with places like this, you couldn't be too sure. He shut the door behind him carefully, making sure not to jostle it too much. A wall collapsing would be nearly as bad as the ceiling.

The inside was at least cleaner than the outside, albeit dimly lit, Kenji thought as he glanced around. After all, Shizuku did live here. A homey little couch sat on one side of the room, a desk on the other side. Both pieces of furniture were surrounded by bookshelves and file cabinets. A door on the other side of the room led straight into Shizuku's bedroom, with a door into the bathroom on one side and a door into the kitchen on the other. Kenji sighed. It barely had a hallway...

Shizuku glanced over her shoulder at him.

"It's…" he swallowed. "You've decorated nicely."

"You're such a snob."

Kenji rubbed the back of his neck. "I was trying to be polite."

"Not everyone has to live in super expensive condominiums."

"Yeah, but this…" Kenji raised a hand to gesture around them. "I know you can afford better than this."

Shizuku shrugged and knelt by one of the file cabinets. "I moved here during university. I see no reason to move now."

"It's a hovel."

"Quit insulting my home."

Kenji sighed.

"You know this is why I always go over to your place, right?" Shizuku stood, several manilla folders in hand.

"To avoid being here?" Maybe he did have a good chance of convincing her to move somewhere else…

"To avoid you being here." Shizuku picked up her briefcase and slid the folders inside.

 _Ouch_. Kenji stuck his hands back in his pockets and continued watching her. "Then why am I here now?"

"Because I needed to pick these up before coming over." Shizuku rifled through the drawer of another file cabinet.

"You could've told me to wait in the car."

"But then you would've imagined horrible things about the inside, given the outside."

Kenji glanced around again.

"Stop thinking that the inside is just as bad," Shizuku snarled.

"It's not your decorating," Kenji hastened to say. "It's just that there's water damage, and cracks, and-"

"It's fine." Shizuku smacked her briefcase shut. "Let's go back to your fancy condominium now."

Shizuku slammed the door loudly on their way out. Kenji was grateful the building didn't collapse.

* * *

"I have to move," Shizuku told him during dinner two weeks later.

Kenji took a bite of udon. "I thought you said you were fine with that place?"

"I was." Shizuku sighed. "Apparently it got inspected and they have to either rebuild it or make extreme repairs. No tenants in the meantime."

"When do you have to be out?"

"A week," Shizuku leaned back heavily against her chair, staring morosely at her bowl. "As if it's that easy to find a new place to live in a week."

Kenji glanced up at her through his eyelashes, then back down at his food. She needed a place to stay. He had a guest bedroom. Granted, he knew she wanted to move straight into her new place, but that would surely be difficult to arrange. His condo was the logical choice for her to stay until she found a more permanent arrangement.

This could be the perfect chance for him to strike. Even just temporarily, living in the same place would be a big step. And he would even get to see her every single day!

Even so, there was a very good chance the proposition would be rejected on principle. Shizuku did a lot of things on principle. If only he could figure out what all the principles were… Maybe he should work on writing a Shizuku reference book.

He'd been rejected by Shizuku before though, and one more rejection wouldn't hurt that bad.

Kenji leaned his head on his fist, lazily looking up at her through his bangs. "You could stay with me, you know."

Shizuku's eyes widened as she glanced up at him. "Stay with you?"

Kenji shrugged. "I have a guest bedroom and an unnecessary storage unit in the basement. You wouldn't have to rush to find a new place that quickly."

Shizuku's eyes narrowed. "Are you asking me to move in with you?"

Perhaps he should have known that it wouldn't be that simple. "I suppose," he answered coolly. "Only temporarily, though of course you can stay as long as you'd like."

"Thank you," Shizuku said, and resumed eating her noodles.

Kenji lifted his head slightly as he blinked at her. "What?"

"For your offer." Shizuku took another bite. "I don't need to worry about it nearly so much now."

His eyes widened. "So you're coming?"

She glanced up at him. "Was the offer insincere?"

"No, no," Kenji said quickly. "No, I just didn't expect…" she was still staring at him blankly. "Nevermind. That's great."

Shizuku went back to her food.

Kenji couldn't stop staring at her for the rest of dinner.


End file.
